analog synthesizers

February 23, 2011

For those of you that appreciate retro synthpop you will love this. A friend of mine introduced me to this CD which for the time it was release was pretty forward thinking. Lots of great synth arpeggios and fun French pop hooks. I find it fascinating to hear ideas in these songs that you hear further developed in later synth pop music & industrial. For those not so into retro synth music and spastic French singing, you might find this a bit cringe worthy.

BIPP: French Synth Wave 1979-1985 is available on Everloving records and can be found on Amazon as a CD or download purchase.

October 04, 2010

Vince Clarke posted another of this Analogue Monologues on his website today. This second video shows us his Roland System 100m modular synth along with a short demonstration. You can check the video out HERE.

July 20, 2010

I stumbled upon two synth performance videos I thought I would share. The first one is an ode to the moon by Mark Ettlich of RetroSound, which showcases the Yamaha DX II, Korg EX-8000 and the Oberhem OB-X. The second is an electronic version of the Star Spangled Banner played on a ribbon controlled experimental analog synth by Eric Archer.

July 07, 2010

The 9th Austin Handmade Music workshop is happening this sunday (July 11th) at the Salvage Vanguard Theater in Austin, Tx. The workshop will consist of building little photo-theremin kits (see video below) followed by a synthesizer/circuit bent show & tell and part swap meet. The festivities start at 2pm and go until 7pm. Theremin kits are $5 and are on a first come first serve basis. Come on down and check it out. It should be fun! For more info go HERE

July 06, 2010

I happened upon this song & video that Paolo Di Nicolantonio from Synthmania.com posted yesterday. I thought this piece was beautiful and showcases a clean aural asthetic that is gone from most newer electronic music. The video also teases us with a bit of synth porn ;-) ... so I thought I would share it!

April 24, 2010

Devo has been doing some interesting stuff lately, ok I guess you might say their whole career has been pretty interesting. But after a break, they are back on the scene with new music and new Devo shenanigans. If you haven't been to their website lately I recommend checking it out and partaking in their song study. They have a collection of 16 new songs and they want their fans to help them pick 12 for their new album. A young european marketing type babysits you Devo style, while you get a sneak preview of the new material and choose your 12 favorite. Very fun and clever. Their new EP based on results of what I'm guessing are the 2 most popular songs so far from their song study, is available on iTunes now for purchase. Not too mention they also have theirnew BLUE dome hats available for sale on their site. To add to my excitement, I just saw this short documentary like video which talks about some of their gear and just had to post it. Enjoy!

March 28, 2010

Last Saturday, March 20th, after the Austin Handmade Music workshop I was lucky enough to catch performances of two cool experimental electronic groups at the Salvage Vanguard Theater: Loud Objects & Bodytronix.

Loud Objects is a duo from New York who in real time create 1-bit noise circuits on a glass plate on top of an overhead projector. It starts out silent, obviously, and then as the circuit gets built and they play around with connections you can hear the noise change. Its loud and noisey and I wouldn't call it musical, but it was definitely interesting to watch and hear. It was probably one of the most unique art sound performances I've seen. Below is a picture of Loud Objects creating the circuit, you can see the two guys below huddled over the overhead projector.

Here's a another picture of the progression of the circuit during the performance.

You can see more pictures of the circuit on my Flickr page if you're interested.

The second group I got to see was Bodytronix which is an Austin duo made up of Eric Archer and Erich Ragsdale who do live electronic jams with a couple tables overflowing with odd handmade electronic instruments and retro gear. The philosophy behind Bodytronix, jamming with homemade gear & retro gear, isn't new but what is so appealing about this group is the musicality of their jams. They are able to take this mish-mash of oddball gear and make music that is refreshing but has a musical sensibility about it. They walk the line between experimental and popular music with a mad scientist edge about them. The prize piece of gear at the show was Eric Archer's new vocal synthesizer which he had singing in english throughout the performance. The heart of Bodytronix is the spontenaity of their live performance, but their recordings stand up as well, so I suggest checking them out on MySpace if you get a chance. Below is a pic I took of the group jammin' out.

March 01, 2010

Saturday night my friend Alex Keller, Austin sound artist, video game sound designer, and mobile sound engineer extraordinaire, and I made our way to the opening celebration of a new store in Austin, Switched On. Switched On is a Music Electronics shop that specializes in "providing repair, restoration, education, consultation and an array of vintage musical instruments".

The opening started at 7pm and we got their around 7:30 to check out the store and and hear Eric Archer play a set of his unique jam-style electronic music. The store was packed with people gawking at the array of vintage synths and drum machines lined up on the walls of the store. There were headphones available so folks could plug in and play around with the gear. I almost felt like I was in a synth museum as I wandered past the Mini-Moog, Korg Mono-Poly, Roland Juno Six, Rythm Ace drum machines, Farfisa organ, etc etc.

The party also extended to the Victory Grill across the street. Where they were serving up free beer and live electronic music from a handful of Austin electronic bands. We hung out there and caught some music and some beers and called it a night. I left the event thinking that Switched On was a cool concept but perhaps they have made too small of a niche for themselves. They seem to focus mostly on vintage synth gear and a smattering of boutique electronics from various local sources (Bleep Labs, 4MS Pedals). Most of the vintage gear, while extremely cool, is very pricey, difficult to maintain and appeals only to a small subset of people who create electronic music. Boutique gear is also very cool but again only appeals to a small niche. My thought is that in order for Switched On to survive they will have to look at also stocking new synths, controllers and (gasp) software. Regardless I wish them luck as I think the store is cool.

January 22, 2010

The Nebulophone!

On Sunday, January 18th, I attended the 4th Austin Handmade Music workshop at the Salvage Vanguard Theater in Austin, put on by the Church of the Friendly Ghost.For this workshop we made a little synth called the Nebulophone, created by John Michael (Dr. Bleep) from Bleep Labs.The Nebulophone is a little bit like the Stylophone in that it has a little metal keyboard that you run a stylus type device on… its an alligator clip on the Nebulophone.This arduino based synth features an arpeggiator, an LFO that modulates an analog filter, as well as a waveform generator, which allows you to choose between: saw, square, triangle & noise wave forms.The arpeggiator can be clocked over IR and can hook up with the other devices we have made in previous workshops:

This little guy sound great and is really fun to play with. I think this is my favorite kit we've done in the series so far! The next workshop is on February 28th at the Salvage Vanguard Theater in Austin TX.For more information or to sign up for the next workshop go HERE

January 16, 2010

It's about time for the first Austin Handmade workshop of 2010 brought to you by the Church of the Friendly Ghost! On Sunday, January 12th at the Salvage Vanguard Theatre in Austin John, Eric & Dann will hold another DIY synth workshop. This month the advanced class will be making the Nebulophone, a creation dreamed up by John Michael (AKA Dr. Bleep) from Bleep Labs. The introduction class will be making a noise maker called the SimSam. The kits sound cool, can't wait to make them!

January 13, 2010

I work as a sound designer for a video game development studio. Because of the nature of my job and the type of people I am lucky to work with, every day brings a new episode of cool audio geekiness. Yesterday's mini-adventure was that one of the guys on our audio team had ordered a pencil synth from Make Magazine online and had soldered it togethor the night before.We got a demo as I poured myself a cup of morning coffee. Its a synthesizer, called Drawdio, affixed to a pencil that uses grpahite as a conductor. The longer your pencil stroke, the more the pitch changes. It sounds like a crazy modulating mosquito, but its pretty neat :) If you want to make your own mini-pencil synth you can order it here.

Also, yesterday I was pointed toward a new video game audio blog by Chuck Russom. He's a freelance audio guy in the industry who's worked on some well known titles: God of War 2, Call of Duty, etc... Chuck's blog covers field recording for game sound effects. It's a nicely put togethor blog and pretty interesting so I suggest you take a look. If you like that blog you'll also dig Field Sepulchra.

Oh yes and one last thing... I added Rekkerd.org to my links & resources page... it is a cool audio software blog. Not sure how I missed that one...at any rate its there now :)

December 22, 2009

On Sunday, December 20th, I went to the third Austin Handmade Workshop at the Salvage Vanguard Theater put on by the Church of the Friendly Ghost. We were originally scheduled to build a Nebulophone Synth designed by John Michael of Bleep Labs at this workshop. Due to the release of his new Thingamagoop 2 for Christmas, the Nebulophone project was postponed until January. Instead, we made a drum machine... a different version of the one we made previously in the first workshop.

Andromeda Space Rocker mk-4 is the official title of this new Eric Archer creation. This drum machine produces an analog bass kick with adjustable tuning & decay as well as a primitive loop sequencer. As with all of the Andromeda Space Rocker line it syncs up with the other models via infrared. The drum box also has a filter that is controlled by a photo cell. This is why you see footage in the videos of people waving flash lights at these things. ;-) The drum machine also has the option to be triggered externally instead of using the onboard sequencer. This can be done via a jumper on the circuit board.

One thing I also want to mention is that if you want to run your drum machine off of a midi clock, as I do, there is a MIDI-IR synch box available from www.woosteraudio.com.You can buy a completed box or if you like to solder you can buy the kit as well.

Aside from getting to make these cool kits in the presence of their creators: Eric Archer, Dann Green (4MS Pedals) and John Michael (Bleep Labs) the workshops are an excellent opportunity to meet other amazingly creative electronic musicians and artists.At this workshop Chris Palmer who was nice enough to show off his Monome controller in an Etch-A-Sketch case… yes it is as cool as it looks.I also got to see Shawn of Lustigovi perform some very interesting music with some bizarre homemade gadgets made with wood, bells, springs, rubberbands and contact microphones.So once again the Austin Handmade Music workshop delivers the goods: awesome new electronic instruments and insteresting people.

December 19, 2009

On November 15th, was the second Austin Handmade Music workshop at the Salvage Vanguard Theatre in Austin, which I attended and had a great time at. Sadly I must admit I was pretty busy in November so I didn't do a post on it. We made these incredibly cool autonomous bassline generators that were made to synch up with the drum machines we made in October. The bassline generator was designed by 4MS Pedals. You can buy the kits online so chek it yo.

Next is workshop #3 which I will be attending on Sunday and I promise I'll be more forth coming on the post for that one :) However in anticipation for workshop number #3 here is a short video that I made from footage I took of the last workshop.

If you're in the Austin area and interested in attending future workshops the info is: HERE

October 29, 2009

The second workshop started around 7:30 PM.After a brief break we all sat back at our work tables and the parts and documentation were passed out for the second project, the one we all were waiting for the “Andromeda Space Rocker” drum machines.

Don’t let the size of these little guys fool you, they are seriously cool.There are 2 photo-cells up at the top that effect tone.Shine a light at different intervals on these while the machine is running and you get a cool filter like effect.The thumb dial down at the bottom left effects tempo.The dip switches to the left control the rhythm and are a simple pattern generator.There is an LED, in the case of mine, RED, (you know… for REDFAUX…jeez) that is hooked to the tempo.It also highly increases the sex appeal of these little beasts… I mean who doesn’t like colored blinky lights? On the bottom side there is a infrared led that allows you to synch up with up to 4 of these guys to create a full drum pattern.There are 4 basic flavors of the machine:

-Hi

-Mid-hi

-Low-mid

-Low

So if you have one of each going you can get a pretty full sounding pattern going.The version I made on Sunday was the Low-mid.

The switch up above the thumb dial allows you to set your machine to synch and follow any others it is chained with.The button gives you a drum fill.

There is also an empty circuit matrix, called the “personality center” that allows you to add mods to the machine.Eric promised he would post some projects for this in the future.

Putting this together was more involved than the beginners project, but still fairly easy.You just have to make sure you are connecting the right parts to the board basically and that your solder joints don’t touch each other.

This is another project I want to make more of.Guys please make these kits available for sale.I will buy them… pretty please J

Here is a picture of my Andromeda Space Rocker along with some samples…

Lastly I want to say that this workshop was fantastic guys! Thanks again.This has taken away my apprehension in getting into building synth kits. The guys were helpful and friendly. I am looking forward to enhancing my new music with these great little instruments.I will definitely attend future workshops.

October 26, 2009

On Sunday, October 18th I was lucky enough to attend the DIY Synthesizer workshop in Austin at the Salvage Vanguard Theatre presented by the Church of the Friendly Ghost, Eric Archer, Bleep Labs & 4MS Pedals.They gave two workshops: a beginner’s workshop where attendees built a simple push button drum machine which Eric had named “Mini Space Rockers”, and the advanced workshop where attendees built one of Eric Archer’s “Andromeda Space Rocket” drum machines.I sat in on both.

I got there a little early so I could check the place out and offer any help setting up if needed.I met Eric and the rest of the guys and helped them set up.When we were ready they put a graphic of the circuit board on the overhead handed us all the parts we needed and we were off like soldering monkeys.The kits we did in this first class came together in about an hour.Everyone had different combination of capacitors so all of the little machines sounded different.After all the soldering was done the room was alive with bleeps, bloops and the occasional screaming “Space Hawk”.Eric also showed us how we can change the sound of our Rocker by putting different capacitors on the board.You should check out Eric’s site he has some samples of the Mini Space Rockers and a short video showing one in action.

The sound it makes is called “Spin Back” and here’s some samples. The sounds start to morph as I start pressing on the electronics, which probably isn't what you're supposed to do with them but it sounds cool.

I really want to make a few more of these little guys.I like the way they sound and look.I’m hoping he’ll have kits or at least printed circuit boards available for sale soon on his site. If you want to hear what the different types sound like, Eric has posted a bunch of samples on his site.

October 13, 2009

So... never underestimate the power of people you know... I happened to mention my disappointment in not being able to get into the DIY synth workshop that was happening this weekend to a friend of mine who's also a sound designer and he just happened to know the folks running the workshop really well. Next thing I know, I've been "squeezed" in.

October 12, 2009

I will have the 3rd post in the Opulent Audio free VST series tomorrow :) Meanwhile...

So I was told by Ghost of the Friendly Church that the beginner DIY analog synth workshop is full up, but they suggested I show up early anyways because they will let people in if there are no shows. I plan on showing up.

It looks like the whole thing is going to be pretty cool even if I can't get into the workshop. They will be having a live analog jam after the workshops which will be pretty fun to see.

Anyways, here's a glimpse at the cool little drum machines they are going to make at the advanced workshop this weekend. Rawk!

October 09, 2009

So I discovered that here in Austin TX of all places is a group that is dedicated to creating DIY analog instruments. How exciting is that! I stumbled upon them in a fit of web surfing persistence when I saw a news blurb on Synthtopia about the 5th Austin Annual Analog Synthesizer party. Sadly, I missed the party I didn't even know about it! But I did find out that they offer workshops in Austin to teach people how to make their own synths! Sign me up. I inquired about registering... I'll let you know if I get in!